Dubai: Justin Rose is looking to make it third time lucky at the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship this week where he has previously finished second twice.
The 35-year-old Englishman finished second to Rory McIlroy in 2012 and tied for second behind Henrik Stenson last year. Rose must now break the hoodoo and go for glory in the tournament at Jumeirah Golf Estates, which tees off on Thursday, if he’s to have any chance of overtaking six other contenders, including McIlroy, for the Race to Dubai overall series crown.
“I fancy my chances,” said Rose, who has three top ten finishes in four appearances at this event. “It’s a course I really enjoy playing and a course that’s been good to me.
“I don’t know the math on it. But the way I see it is if I win this tournament, I would be very unlucky not to win the Race to Dubai. So for the most part, I’ve done my job of getting to this point in the season with a great chance to win it all,” said Rose, who has one win and six top ten finishes in 13 events this season.
“Obviously McIlroy and Stenson have great records here,” he added of his two previous rivals. McIlroy has only finished outside the top five once in six appearances, and Stenson is on course for an event hat-trick having won here in 2013 and 2014, totalling three top tens in five appearances.
“Rory, Henrik and myself have all played incredibly well at this venue over the last few years. And there’s a fair chance that one of us is going to be there on Sunday.
“But the equation for me is simple,” he said. “I’m close enough that if I win, I feel like I win the whole thing.
“There are other guys who are going to have to keep their eye on one another,” he added of fellow Race to Dubai contenders in the pack of seven who are all relying on various permutations to win the overall series honour. “But for me, it’s a pretty simple equation. I need to go out and pretty much win the tournament.
“From that point of view, is there less pressure on me? Probably not, there’s probably more pressure because I have to win, but it’s a much more simplistic equation. At least I know I can be very single minded on what my goal is this week.”
